The president of the judiciary's union, the National Association of Magistrates (ANM) said that a nationwide strike against the government's planned reform to separate the career paths of prosecutors and judges so members of the judiciary can no longer switch between the two roles was being staged on Thursday to defend the Constitution and not the interests of magistrates.
    "It isn't a strike against someone but in defence of a series of principles of the Constitution in which we firmly believe and which are fundamental for citizens", the president of ANM, Cesare Parodi, told Radio 24.
    "It is everything but a defence of the corporation.
    "We are not defending any privilege", stressed Parodi.
    ANM had long criticized the Constitutional reform bill, drafted by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, saying it will weaken the judiciary and is aimed at placing State attorneys under the executive's control.
    The Constitutional reform bill - which has received the first of at least four necessary parliamentary votes for its approval - also creates a high court to discipline members of the judiciary and changes the make-up of the judiciary's self-governing body, the CSM, overhauling the way CSM justices are elected, using a draw process.
   

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